What’s going on my dogs?

Spring is on again/off again here in Germany and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It’s not too warm to be uncomfortable (although I did seek out the cool floor of the mudroom last week) and not so cold that the water from the stream stings my paws or freezes to me when I get in. I do hear from the humans that it’s going to be getting pretty cold again so I’m personally hoping for more of that snow stuff. It doesn’t look good though. Apparently spring isn’t ready to dig its heels in just yet – but I hope the cold doesn’t kill off all the little flowers that are starting to peak through the ground! They’re so nice to sniff and my dog friends in the neighborhood leave all sorts of scandalous news on them!

Because spring is upon us and I know it’s a time that many of you start “blowing coat” too (read: “shedding like you have cancer so the humans think you will be bald by the end of the month”) I thought I would talk briefly about the brush we got last year – the FURminator deShedding Tool. It’s fun to say, don’t you think?

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t really like being brushed that much. I will tolerate it but I expect a good treat or some serious love for sitting there long enough for a basketball-sized clump of hair to be pulled out of me. And for the record, when we’re out on a walk and you humans stop me to pull on a tuft of hair that has loosened and is now only barely clinging to my body – it’s not cool. If other dogs were to see you doing that, it would be like licking your finger so you can wipe off something dried on my face. Not the way to impress other dogs on the block.

Anyway, the FURminator is my favorite of the brushes and the humans seem to think it’s pretty great too. They do recommend using it outside though because the fur just comes rolling off of me. But it’s not like with other brushes where you can just roll it out of the bristles –  with the FURminator, some of the fur will stick to me, some falls to the ground. It’s basically just everywhere and you’ll think you can construct a whole new dog from it. So you want to be able to vacuum right after or have it blow away in the wind.  The FURminator comes in a variety of sizes for all of you smaller than me. You can even get them for your cats but ours aren’t too crazy about mine (could be since it smells like me) so the parents just kept their old brushes which they actually do like (strange cats!) You can’t use it on clumps or matts in the fur – so they thankfully can’t use this on my legs. But all over the body it’s cool and it actually feel quite nice.

So now that I’ve made my skin tingle by talking about all this brushing, I will go do some sunbathing and see what sort of trouble I can find to chew on. Hope you’re having a great week doggies and I’ll bark at you again soon!

Newfie kisses,

Ayla